Sing a happy song: Birds tune up for a big comeback as experts chart the wildlife winners and losers of lockdown
Independent MSP on harassment inquiry committee calls for crucial legal advice on judicial review to be released before FM’s appearance
Scotland’s songbirds could be in for a bumper year as a drop in pollution during the pandemic has boosted the number of insects they feed on.
Birds such as swallows, wrens and warblers are predicted to have bigger clutches of chicks as they will be in better condition for the breeding season.
They have also been helped by reduced noise levels as their songs could be heard from further away, making it easier to attract mates.
Experts expect birds and insects to be among the wildlife winners while human activity has been limited during the last year.
Debbie Bassett, biodiversity strategy manager at NatureScot, said: “We’re anticipating the insect rate will be much higher. We think we’ll have an increased number of bird chicks because the parents have been in better condition as there’s been more food about.
“That could be one of the big positives that comes out of reduced air pollution. It will be really interesting, as that makes us all start to realise some of the consequences of the decisions we make about driving or not driving.
“We can demonstrate what impact it has on the wildlife that lives in our cities and towns.”
Ecologists are keen to examine studies during the “unique natural experiment” created by Covid-19 and have some early indications on which species have done well and which have struggled.
But there are fears that even those which have thrived will only benefit in the short-term if people resume pre-pandemic activities.
Dr Dominic McCafferty, an animal ecologist at the Scottish
Centre for Ecology and the Natural Environment, said: “Animals adapt their behaviours to particular environments, some of that will be learned and some will be inherited through natural selection.
“The interesting thing about natural selection is that it operates on the conditions, so if some of them adapt well to the environment as long as that environment stays the same then that bit of natural selection is really advantageous.
“But if you get a change to the environment then it’s not going to cope with the new conditions.
“This could be a unique natural experiment that we need to make the most of to understand how humans impact affect wildlife.
“The reduction in CO2, reduction in pollution, road traffic noise, all of these sorts of things are important components. If we could find a low-carbon route out of this it would be great.”
A major drop in traffic has benefited hedgehogs, frogs and toads, as they have been less likely to be killed by vehicles. Foxes and badgers have been able to increase their territory range while the roads have been quieter as they are intelligent enough to attempt to avoid busy routes.
Urban-dwelling foxes, badgers and hedgehogs have also flourished as more people have been putting food out for them.
Nature Scot has been inundated with inquiries from people looking for advice on encouraging wildlife, such as creating a habitat from logs or building nesting boxes.
But people’s interest in nature has not benefited all species, as seals suffered during the pupping season due to more people taking their daily exercise on beaches.
Seal pups need to spend much of their time on land while they grow, and they are badly affected by being disturbed, especially by dogs off leads.
Litter can also harm or kill wildlife, and a colony of endangered water voles in northeast Glasgow had their grassland habitat badly damaged by flytipping. Another threat to water voles has been the suspension of projects to control non-native invasive species such as mink.
Many species have also not
increased in numbers – or even decreased – but as people have had more time and been mainly confined to their local areas, wildlife sightings have soared.
Bat sightings went up by 143%, and the number of people seeing otters also increased, with one even spotted on a deserted platform at Haymarket train station in Edinburgh.
Sightings of dragonflies, butterflies and moths also spiked, with many people recording what they had seen on the popular wildlife tracker iRecord.
But experts said an increase in sightings does not necessarily mean a growing population.
Rodent-related inquiries to Rentokil Pest Control were up by 37.3% in 2020 compared to 2015.
In reality the population is likely to have declined. Steven Belmain, professor of ecology at the University of Greenwich, said:
“Food sources for urban rodents have really plummeted.
“They were hanging about where there tended to be a lot of food and became quite a stable population. But the shutting of restaurants has caused a massive collapse in their population.
“A lot of it is that there are increased numbers of observers who are noticing rat problems, but the rat population is actually more than likely going down.”
MSPs investigating the Scottish Government’s unlawful inquiry into harassment claims against Alex Salmond yesterday made a last-ditch appeal for the release of vital documents.
They called on Nicola Sturgeon to keep her promise to “fully cooperate” with the Holyrood committee of inquiry launched to establish what went wrong before she gives evidence on Wednesday.
In January 2019, the first minister told MSPs: “I will answer any questions to the fullest extent possible, and my government will cooperate fully with all and any inquiries.”
However, the committee’s work has been hobbled by the
protracted and repeated refusal of the government to hand over requested documents and the need to recall a number of witnesses, including senior civil servants, to “clarify” discrepancies in their evidence after new facts emerged.
Yesterday, independent MSP and committee member Andy Wightman said: “The overriding question is why the Scottish Government has not been more forthcoming and timely in its release of information, in particular why it has consistently refused to disclose legal advice.
“A substantial part of this inquiry is into a failed litigation and to fully determine that we need that legal advice. We have been asking for the legal advice for months. It should have been disclosed to the committee long ago. It could still be disclosed to the committee.
“If the Scottish Government was willing to publish this information, it would be able to do so before Wednesday. It knows what the information is and it has it all to hand.
“The committee has taken the view that this information is central to its inquiry and should be published. We would see disclosure of this material as central to her promise to co-operate fully with the inquiry.”
Sturgeon, who attacked Salmond’s claims and character before he gave evidence, is said to be eager to rebut the claims of her predecessor as first minister after he launched an onslaught against her government. During an explosive six-hours of sworn testimony on Friday, Salmond claimed there was a concerted plan to ensure and encourage his criminal prosecution to conceal the government’s abject failure to investigate two complaints against him fairly.
He accused the Scottish Government of concealing documents during his legal case against them while MSPs on the committee described their own frustration at the refusal of the government to hand over documents requested, in particular the independent legal advice concerning Salmond’s judicial review. Civil servants have been accused of rejecting the advice for at least two months before conceding the case at the first hearing, costing taxpayers at least £630,000 in legal costs as a judge branded it “unlawful, unfair and tainted by apparent bias”.
Wightman, who, it is said, has often had the deciding vote on the committee as it split on
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party lines, said: “The focus of this inquiry is on the actions of the first minister and her government.
“Therefore, everything that the committee has been looking at – the procedure, how complaints were handled, how the judicial review was handled and any potential breaches of the ministerial code along the way – are all matters that ultimately the first minister is accountable for because they are all things that were done in her name by her government.
“So, in a sense, she has many, many questions to answer. The key ones are the development of a procedure that was then found to be unlawful and the application of that procedure in this particular case. The third one is how they approached the judicial review.”
Sturgeon has previously insisted she has “nothing to fear” from releasing legal advice, but the Salmond inquiry has still not seen it just weeks before they are due to publish their findings. Last week, she accused Salmond of peddling baseless conspiracy theories.
He gave six hours of evidence on Friday, in which he claimed Sturgeon had breached the ministerial code, an offence usually demanding resignation, while accusing senior members of the government and the SNP of a concerted effort to instigate and bolster a criminal investigation into his conduct after the government’s own inquiry into the complaints of two women collapsed. He claims there was a deliberate attempt to drag out the government’s defence against his case, despite legal advice that it was doomed, in the hope he would be charged before it got to court and so conceal its failures. In the event, he was not charged for two weeks after his victory in court.
More than a year later, he was cleared of 13 sexual assault charges at the High Court and believes there was a concerted attempt by people in government and the SNP to encourage his prosecution.
He told MSPs on Friday that he had been given a memory stick in the build up to his criminal trial that contained messages which involved “pressurising police”, “collusion of witnesses” and “construction of evidence because police were felt to be inadequate in finding it themselves”.
At the close of his evidence, Salmond said MSPs could use the Scottish Parliament’s powers to request key documents from his solicitors Levy & McRae.
The committee is expected to contact them.
Conservative MSP and committee member Murdo Fraser said: “Both Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond have come up with directly contradictory explanation of the events.
I think we would want to hear from Nicola Sturgeon what her evidence is that supports her version. The second issue is in relation to the handling of the judicial review by the Scottish Government and whether that was continued beyond the point where it was clear that there was no longer a case that could be properly defended.”
Alistair Bonnington, former honorary professor at Glasgow University School of Law, said: “If the Crown Office intervened again to attempt to prevent this information being made public they will look extremely biased in favour of Nicola Sturgeon. “It would be very hard to say the Crown Office are just acting as independent upholders of the justice system.”
Lord Advocate James Wolffe will give evidence to the committee on Tuesday. On Friday Salmond accused the Scottish Government of withholding documents despite the issue of a search warrant.
Fraser said: “Failure to comply with a search warrant is a criminal offence.
“I think we will want to ask the Lord Advocate what his own view is on these matters is and whether he has any explanation for the conduct of the Scottish Government, if indeed he accepts Salmond’s evidence in this respect is correct.”
A spokesperson for the first minister said: “Friday was Alex Salmond’s chance to provide proof of the conspiracy which has been alleged – and he did not do so.
“Instead, under oath, he explicitly conceded there was no such evidence against the first minister, and also gave testimony which directly undermined some of the central planks of the conspiracy theories.
“The first minister now looks forward to addressing all of the issues Salmond raised – and much more besides – when she finally gets the opportunity to address the committee this week.”